You’ve probably heard about it by now. Epic Games’ Fortnite is the most popular game since the early Call of Duty games that I remember. Its Battle Royale mode just seems to keep growing, but does it really deserve all the hype? I will give you my opinion and a few tips that I find to make the game much more enjoyable.

I’m not going to waste time saying that the game is technically not even close to good, in my honest opinion. The combat needs a massive change. The games arsenal contains many weapons, ranging from a basic pistol to a RPG. Yet gunfights can at times be terribly inconsistent. Pistols often beat assault rifles, revolvers can get one shot kills from miles away, and if you don’t get a shotgun within the first 30 seconds you might as well quit the game. Not to mention how literally half of the 100 players flock to Tilted Towers, making the area a mortality zone and offsetting the amount of players in other areas.

On top of this, the game has random bushes scattered throughout its massive landscape; some players have taken advantage of this. There is a “storm,” which forces players to move to certain locations in a certain amount of time or else they will take damage by the second. Bush hiders have adapted a new strategy where they find a bush near the edge of the storm, hide in it and pop up on players passing nearby, taking their hard earned loot, before crawling back into discrete darkness. This is, of course, is within the rules of the game, but it is extremely frustrating for other players, and in my experience using this strategy, not nearly as fun for the hiders.  I have often had countless resources, great guns, and a full shield late in the game, preparing to contend for a victory only to get slaughtered by one of these “Bush hiders.”

Late in the game, you literally need every good weapon in the game to emerge victorious. When the game gets down to less than 15 players, people start building massive forts and firing RPGS at anything that moves. If anyone is still running around at this point, they will be sniped down.

There are just lots of things about this game that I dislike.

But if you check my PSN account, you will see that I have spent hours playing this exact game.

Why is that? Well, because this game is addicting. I mean the “I got on a roll and now three hours have passed” type addicting. Playing in duos or squads makes the game even more thrilling, considering you can team up with friends.

As bad as I think the game might be, here’s a few tips I have:

–Go to a crowded area, unless you want to sit around the entire time. There have been times where I landed in less popular areas, like the motel west of Anarchy Acres or the factory (both are great for survival and contain decent loot, but not fun) and didn’t even see another player until less than 25 of 100 were left. Without combat the game can get boring very fast.

–Build, Build, Build, Build. If someone shoots you and you have no sense of their location, you will quickly die if you don’t start putting walls up rapidly. If you make it into the top 20 and are still running around without cover, you will be an easy target. In addition, building ramps gives you access to almost everywhere on the map. Try to collect as much resources as you can early. Building makes the game much more fun and unique.

–Know when to engage. If you see someone running in the distance who poses no immediate threat to you, leave them alone. Killing someone alerts everyone of your position and there’s no guarantee that you will even survive the ensuing gunfight. If someone is fairly close to you, see if you can sneak up closer, where you can one shot them with a shotgun.

–Put emphasis on elevation. The higher you are, the better. You will be able to look down on people making it more difficult for opponents to build cover.

–Use the storm to your advantage. Bad players fear the storm, good players love the storm. Keep in mind: the storm does 1 damage per second, and increases with the storm becoming smaller. It is sometimes worth it to run back into the storm to collect nearby loot, but be extremely cautious. If you want easy kills, set up shop near the edge of the storm and take advantage of players running in the circle, who are often distracted and running senseless.

–Memorize the map. This is the number one priority for anyone trying to sharpen their skills. Learn every area in the map- chest locations, best loot locations, sniping spots, quiet spots, kill zones, best landing spots, and other key facts. It will take awhile, but once you make the effort to memorize areas in the map you will become a much better player.

All of these tips make the game much more fun, personally. How do you feel about Fortnite? Are you one of its 45 million users?